In-flight entertainment (IFE) systems are deployed onboard aircraft to provide entertainment for passengers in a passenger cabin. The in-flight entertainment systems can provide passengers with video and audio content.
Typically, in-flight television programs are provided through personal video display units installed at each passenger seat or on overhead video display units that can be spaced over groups of seats. Audio content is provided through personal headsets connected to audio jacks installed in the seats, usually in the armrest of the seats. When installed at each passenger seat, all seats can be networked to a centralized content server to receive video/audio content. Ethernet is an example communications network that can be used for data packet communications between the content server, which is usually installed somewhere in an airplane hidden from the passengers view, and the seat electronic units
Seat electronic units can be installed underneath a group of seats or to an individual seat to receive, decode and present the video/audio content to passengers. The seat electronic units can route commands and content between one or more content servers and the video display units in each seat, usually in the seat arm or the seat back, over a communications network.
In order to limit the enormous wiring requirements for such IFE systems and avoid multiple long runs of wires between content servers and seat electronic units (e.g., required for point-to-point (star) architecture, configurations), the seat electronic units are usually daisy-chained to each-other and wired back to the content servers creating a network loop. Availability of such in-flight entertainment systems is dependent on the health of all seat electronic units within the same network loop.
There is risk that a network loop can be broken when any one of the seat electronic units fails. The seat electronic units may be configured to communicate in both directions through the network loop to avoid loss of all communications when any one of the seat electronic units fails. However, failure of two or more seat electronic units can result in loss of communications to all seat electronic units that are located in the loop between the failed seat electronic units. Thus, daisy-chained network loops have the potential for low reliability/availability.